In laying pipelines, they must occasionally cross bodies of water. Weight material must be added to the exterior of the pipe to control the buoyancy of the pipe. Moreover, the weight material also provides exterior protection of the pipe after it has been placed in the water.
Various attempts have been made in the past to devise coating machines. This coating machine is believed to be superior to coating machines of the prior art in that it has a relatively simply mechanism for application of the coating material to the exterior surface of the pipe and is able to control the texture, consistency and surface smoothness of the coating.
The apparatus of the present invention thus is characterized as an improved version of equipment which applies a cement coating to sections of pipe. The apparatus is particularly distinguished in that a conveyor belt smooths and places the cement on the surface. Moreover, it provides application of cement to a specified thickness. In addition, wrapping materials, ordinarily two ply, are applied immediately after the cement has been compressed and compacted against the pipe.